Jason Reso
William Jason Reso (born November 30, 1973) is a Canadian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring names Christian and Christian Cage. He currently wrestles for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) promotion, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), on its Smackdown brand. Reso was trained by former professional wrestlers Ron Hutchinson, Dory Funk, Jr., and Tom Prichard, and made his wrestling debut in June 1995. Reso wrestled in Canadian independent promotions early in his career. During his time in these promotions, he won various championships in tag team competition. Reso signed with the WWF in August 1998, after training in the company's wrestling training camp, The Funking Conservatory. After signing with the WWF, Reso made his debut and captured his first title with the company, the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, and would hold onto it for a month. Also in 1998 he was given a vampire character, in which he formed an alliance with Gangrel and Edge, forming The Brood. The following year, Reso and Edge parted ways with Gangrel and formed an alliance of their own. The two would go on to win the WWF Tag Team Championship on seven occasions. The tag team, however, ended in 2001. Reso later worked as a sole performer, which led to him winning the WWF European and the WWF Intercontinental Championships, on separate occasions. Following his departure from WWE, he signed with the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion in November 2005, where he competed under the ring name Christian Cage. In February 2006 he won his first of four professional wrestling world heavyweight championships – the NWA World Heavyweight Championship – but would go on to lose it four months later. He recaptured the title in January 2007, which led to him starting his own alliance known as Christian's Coalition, but was later stripped of the title in May 2007. Christian's Coalition later disbanded in early 2008. Reso left TNA in January 2009 and re-signed with WWE, where he debuted on the ECW roster. In April 2009, Reso won his first world heavyweight championship in WWE: the ECW Championship, which he would win again in July 2009. Reso holds the record for the longest reigning ECW Champion in the WWE era. In addition to being a four-time world heavyweight champion, Reso has won the World Tag Team Championship nine times, WWF/E Intercontinental Championship three times, the WWF European Championship one time, WWF Hardcore Championship one time, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship one time World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (1998–2005) The Brood Main article: The Brood. When Reso came to the World Wrestling Federation, he shortened his ring name to Christian.6 Reso made his television debut on September 27, 1998 at the Breakdown: In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) event distracting Edge during his match against Owen Hart to reveal his allegiance to Gangrel.1213 He won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship in his debut match against Taka Michinoku on October 18, 1998 at the Judgment Day: In Your House PPV event.614 Christian, given the character of a vampire, formed an alliance with Gangrel and Edge, who, in storyline, was finally persuaded to join what became known as The Brood.15 The Brood briefly feuded with, then joined, The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness, but upon learning that Christian was beaten into telling Ken Shamrock the whereabouts of Stephanie McMahon, The Undertaker wanted to punish Christian by flogging (according to the storyline at the time).15 More loyal to the Brood than to the Ministry, Edge and Gangrel betrayed The Undertaker and rescued Christian. Edge and Christian Main article: Edge and Christian. In 1999, Christian and Edge parted ways with Gangrel, who associated himself with The Hardy Boyz (Jeff and Matt Hardy) to form the The New Brood. As a result, they began feuding with The Hardy Boyz, and went onto compete in a ladder match at the No Mercy PPV event on October 17, 1999 for the managerial services of Terri Runnels and $100,000, which The Hardy Boyz won.16 At the WrestleMania 2000 PPV event on April 2, 2000, Christian and Edge defeated The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship in a Triangle Ladder match, which ultimately led to the creation of the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match (TLC).1718 Following their victory, Christian and Edge portrayed themselves as villains, shifting their in-ring personas from borderline goth to a comedic pair of "cool dudes", winning the Tag Team Championship six more times (for a total of seven). During this time, their trademark became the "five second pose", where they performed a pose in the ring for five seconds "for the benefit of those with flash photography" to mock, insult, or otherwise amuse the fans.619 At the SummerSlam PPV event on August 27, 2000, the duo successfully defended the tag team title in the first-ever TLC match against The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz.20 At the Royal Rumble PPV event on January 21, 2001, Christian and Edge lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Dudley Boyz.2122 The following month on February 25, 2001 at the No Way Out PPV event, they were unsuccessful in regaining the title,23 but recaptured the title on April 1, 2001 at the WrestleMania X-Seven PPV event in the second-ever TLC match involving The Hardy Boyz. Christian and Edge were defeated by The Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker) for the tag team championship on the April 19, 2001 episode of WWF SmackDown!. After losing the tag team title, friction arose within the team after Edge won the 2001 King of the Ring tournament on June 24 at the King of the Ring PPV event. It was also during this time that Edge was becoming a fan favorite during "The Invasion" storyline. Christian turned on Edge shortly afterward, resulting in the two feuding for Edge's WWF Intercontinental Championship for several months, with the title changing hands twice. Singles competition Christian began a singles career by winning the WWF European Championship from Bradshaw in October 2001, though he would later lose the title to Diamond Dallas Page in January 2002. After a series of defeats, Christian announced he was quitting the WWF, but Page persuaded Christian to reconsider, and adopted him as his protegé.6 Christian betrayed Page and faced off against him for the European championship at the WrestleMania X8 event on March 17, 2002, in which Page defeated him. During the same event, Christian defeated Mighty Molly to win the WWF Hardcore Championship, but lost the title to Maven later on in the night. Following WrestleMania X8, Christian formed an alliance with fellow Canadian wrestlers Lance Storm and Test in June 2002, calling themselves The Un-Americans. Together, Christian and Storm won the now named WWE Tag Team Championship, formerly the WWF Tag Team Championship (which was renamed due to the WWF being forced to rename itself "World Wrestling Entertainment"), on July 21, 2002 at the Vengeance PPV event, but later lost it on the September 23, 2002 episode of WWE Raw to the team of The Hurricane and Kane.32 He later became the sidekick of Chris Jericho, with whom he won the World Tag Team Championship, the renamed WWE Tag Team Championship, on October 14, 2002.3233 Christian and Jericho lost the title in a fatal four-way elimination match, involving the teams of The Dudley Boyz, Booker T and Goldust, and William Regal and Lance Storm, on December 15, 2002 at the Armageddon PPV event.34 In 2003, Christian began using many of The Rock's mannerisms, which varied from calling his fans "The Peeps" (similar to The Rock calling his fans "The People") to using The Rock's one arm raised victory pose.35 He even called himself "The New People's Champion".36 He went on to win a nine man over-the-top-rope battle royal at the Judgment Day PPV event on May 18, 2003 for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship, the renamed "WWF Intercontinental Championship".29 The following night on Raw, he appeared on Chris Jericho's talk show, The Highlight Reel, sporting a new haircut and ring attire.37 Christian would later lose the Intercontinental Championship to Booker T on the July 7, 2003 episode of Raw.29 Christian, however, regained the title at a live event on August 10, 2003 after Booker was legitimately injured.29 Also in 2003, Christian and Jericho began romances with WWE Divas Trish Stratus and Lita, respectively. As part of the angle, it was revealed to be a bet over who could sleep with their respective female first, with a Canadian dollar at stake.3839 Despite the bet, Jericho continued his relationship with Stratus, which ultimately resulted in Christian and Jericho turning on each other. At the WrestleMania XX PPV event on March 14, 2004, Christian faced Jericho in a singles match with Stratus on Jericho's side. Stratus, however, accidently struck Jericho, allowing Christian to defeat him.40 Stratus' then joined forces with Christian, becoming his on-screen girlfriend in the process. During a steel cage match against Jericho on the May 10, 2004 episode of Raw, Christian suffered a severe back injury, causing him to miss almost four months of in-ring action. He returned on the August 30 episode of Raw, resuming his feud with Jericho. Captain Charisma Christian's gimmick became that of a cocky, overconfident villain, dubbing himself "Captain Charisma" in October 2004. On December 6, 2004, he was forced to wrestle as Captain Charisma, complete with a superhero costume, by Chris Jericho, who was general manager for the night. Christian was often accompanied by Tyson Tomko, whom he called his "problem solver", and usually won his matches with interference from Tomko. He wrestled with The Hurricane, whose gimmick is that of a modern day superhero, as part of a tag team called "The Heroes", for one night. The next week he faced The Hurricane in a "battle of the heroes". After this, the heroes aspect of the ring persona was dropped, though Christian continued to go by the nickname of "Captain Charisma". Christian was loosely paired with Edge again several times in late 2004 and early 2005. Despite being a villain, he acquired a fanbase, who he referred to as his "Peeps", "Peepulation" (a play on the word "population") or the "Christian Coalition". In April 2005, Christian participated in the first-ever Money in the Bank ladder match at the WrestleMania 21 PPV event on April 3, 2005. Following this, Christian, who had an encounter with SmackDown! superstar John Cena at the start of the year, began commenting on Cena, claiming he was a better rapper than Cena and denouncing him as "poseur". Christian was noticeably cheered during these segments and was thought to be finally becoming a main eventer. Soon after Cena, then-WWE Champion, was drafted to the Raw brand, where he successfully defended the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match against Christian and Jericho on June 26, 2005 at the Vengeance PPV event. On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, Christian was drafted to the SmackDown! brand in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. He replaced The Big Show in a six-man elimination match for the newly-created SmackDown! Championship, and lost to John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Soon-after, he was given his own interview segment on SmackDown! called The Peep Show. Christian later parted ways with WWE joining TNA. Return to the WWE (2009-present) After resigning from his position on TNA, there had been rumors of Reso returning to the WWE this was confirmed by Dixie Carter that Christian in fact did sign a contract with the WWE. Reso made his return to the WWE on its ECW brand on Feb 10th, issuing a challenge to the winner of the match between Finlay and the ECW Champion Jack Swagger. Later that night Christian won his first match back with the WWE as he beat Jack Swagger in a non-title match. On a February 24 episode of ECW, he would fight the ECW Champion, Jack Swagger, for the ECW Championship. However, Christian came up short in the match, as Swagger successfully defended his title. On the March 10 episode of ECW, Christian won a Tri-Branded Battle Royal, in effect becoming the seventh qualifier for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXV. ECW Championship and Feud with Swagger and Dreamer On an episode of ECW, Christian became the number one contender for Jack Swagger's ECW Championship and at Backlash Christian defeated Swagger to become the new ECW Champion. Christian and Swagger would vocalize there differences of opionon about the Backlash match and whether or not Christian cheated and this would lead to a rematch at Judgment Day which was won by Swagger. On an episode of ECW Tommy Dreamer would cut a promo in the ring thanking the fans for his time and in ECW and that he and ECW GM Tiffany agreed to a one day contract extention so he could get an ECW Championship match at Extreme Rules 2009 and that if he didnt win the match he would retire from ECW for good. In the weeks leading up to the match Dreamer & Christian would gain a mutual respect for each and Jack Swagger would work his way back into the title hunt making the Extreme Rules match a triple threat. Dreamer would go on to win the title at Extreme Rules Christian would get a rematch at The Bash in a Champion Scramble match which also included Swagger, Mark Henry, Finlay, and Dreamer which would be won by Dreamer Christian would face Vladimir Kozlov on an episode of ECW to determain Dreamer's opponent at Night of Champions and would defeat Koslov making Christian the person to hand Swagger & Koslov both there first ever ECW losses. At Night of Champions Christian regained the title by defeating Tommy Dreamer. Wrestling facts *'Finishing moves' :*Frog Splash - TNA; used as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero :*''Killswitch'' (WWE) / Unprettier (WWF/E / TNA) / Impaler (WWF) (Inverted double underhook facebuster) :* One man con-chair-to - used in hardcore matches *'Signature moves' :*Cloverleaf - TNA :*Diving European uppercut - 2007-present :*Diving crossbody :*Diving headbutt - 2009-present :*Fireman's carry gutbuster :*Inverted facelock backbreaker :*Pendulum kick from out of the corner, as a counter to an oncoming opponent - 2008-present :*Dropkick, sometimes from the top rope :*Flapjack :*Multiple DDT variations + Flapjack :**Falling inverted DDT :**Implant :**Inverted tornado :**Tornado :*Springboard from out of the corner into either a plancha or a twisting sunset flip - 2009-present :*Sitout inverted suplex slam :*Stands on the shoulder of an opponent draped over the middle rope, choking them in the process *'Nicknames' :*"Captain Charisma" :*"Instant Classic" :*"New People's Champion" :*"The Pontiff of Peepulation" *'Tag teams and stables' :*Edge & Christian - with Edge :*Christian Cage and Tomko :*Christian and Chris Jericho :*The Alliance :*The Brood :*Christian's Coalition :*Ministry Of Darkness :*Revolution X :*Thug Life :*Un-Americans :*Main Event Mafia *'Managers' :*Trish Stratus (WWE) (2004) *'Nickname for Fans' :*"Peeps" *'Theme music' :*"At Last" by Jim Johnston (WWE) :*"Blood Brother" by Jim Johnston (WWF) :*"Just Close Your Eyes" by Waterproof Blonde (WWE) :*"Take Over" by Dale Oliver (Independent, ROH, TNA) :*'"Just Close Your Eyes 2009" by James A. Johnston and Story Of The Year' Championships and accomplishments *'East Coast Wrestling Association' :*ECWA Heavyweight Champion (1 time) *'Insane Championship Wrestling' :*ICW Streetfight Tag Team Champion (2 times) - with Sexton Hardcastle *'Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling' :*PCW Heavyweight Champion (1 time) *'Total Nonstop Action Wrestling' :*NWA World Heavyweight Champion (2 times) *'World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment' :*ECW Championship (2 time) :*WWF/E Intercontinental Champion (3 times) :*WWF/E Tag Team Champion (9 times) - with Edge (7), Lance Storm (1) and Chris Jericho (1) :*WWF European Champion (1 time) :*WWE Hardcore Champion (1 time) :*WWF Light Heavyweight Champion (1 time) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' :*PWI Match of the Year - (2000) Edge & Christian vs. the Dudley Boyz vs. the Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania 2000 :*PWI Match of the Year - (2001) Edge and Christian vs. the Dudley Boyz vs. the Hardy Boyz at WrestleMania X-Seven. :*PWI ranked him # 454 of the 500 best wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003 :*PWI ranked him # 12 in the PWI 500 in 2006. *'Wrestling Observer Newsletter' :*2000 Tag Team of the Year (with Edge) Acting career In March 2006, Reso began filming his part in "Shoot 'Em Up", a film due to be released in December 2006. Reso has a short speaking part, that of a Secret Service bodyguard for a United States Senator. On April 12, 2006, Reso taped an edition of "Casino Cinema" for Spike TV. Personal life * Reso graduated at Don Bosco Secondary High School with fellow friend and wrestler Adam Copeland. He married a German woman, Denise, on May 25, 2001. * He has a tattoo of the head of a bulldog with a yellow rose in its mouth on his left upper bicep. He has four cats. * He is good friends with Terry Gerin, who was the best man at his wedding. * Reso started using the Frog splash as a finisher in TNA as a tribute to his friend Eddie Guerrero who had died the day of his TNA debut. * Reso is also real life neighbours with Chris Irvine, better known by the stage name Chris Jericho. See also *Christian Cage’s career history *Christian Cage’s event history *Christian Cage’s gimmicks External links and references *Christian Cage profile at CAGEMATCH.net *Jason Reso's entrance theme Category:Canadian wrestlers Category:1 Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Blood Sweat And Ears alumni Category:Border City Wrestling alumni Category:East Coast Wrestling Association alumni Category:Insane Championship Wrestling alumni Category:International Wrestling Cartel alumni Category:Jersey All Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Liberty States Wrestling alumni Category:Maryland Championship Wrestling alumni Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Northeast Wrestling alumni Category:Nu-Wrestling Evolution alumni Category:Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:Ring of Honor alumni Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni Category:World Championship Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment current roster